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- Mar 29, 2020
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Hi, cat and kitten lovers! New pet owners here who are struggling with socialising our 2 recently adopted bengals, we're hoping for advice. They are 5-mo old male/female siblings from a breeder who had 24 cats (7 kittens including ours when we adopted them); we don't know how much physical interaction they had with humans. During our visit, one was very playful, one was running and hiding. The kittens have now been with us for 9 days and they're less shy than they were, but we're still unable to pet either one - the shyest one, we can't even get close to.
We realise they haven't been with us for a massive amount of time, but we're on coronavirus lockdown so have shared ALL our time with our kitties (we're both working from home ATM, and our 'office' is in our kitchen/dining/lounge area, where we've even slept on the sofa a few nights... which is also the only area the cats are safe in). They have places to hide, to climb, to sit comfortably; they play with us (one is a bit reticent but will interact with toys on strings/poles/sticks). We've tried different methods to encourage them to be more comfortable with us: lying on the floor; extending hand only limply to get them to smell us; we're using a Feliway plugin; they're not big on treats (and on a raw diet); the only method we haven't spent a long time trying is 'ignoring' due to our work stations/kitchen/lounge setup.
We need to get them to the vet to be spayed/neutered within the next 3.5 weeks and are becoming concerned we can't put them in the carrier. My husband's so bummed he's considering returning them to the breeder (assuming we could get them into the carrier!). I still think they may bond with us in time, however, they are very happy interacting with each other and aren't concerned about us.
We don't know if 5 mo is 'too old' to change in a month's time assuming they may not have had this type of human interaction previously? We're happy to put the work in and don't take cat ownership lightly but need to get them to the vet; and, we want animals that will thrive in a family environment (planning for baby #1 sometime soon). We realize every cat is different (& of course, they have each other - we wanted 2 so they'd have company once we're back at work, but it may be backfiring on the human bonding)... but how much time is reasonable to expect for them to be 'pet-able' and 'pick-up-able'?
Apologies for the long post but wanted it to contain pertinent information. Thanks in advance for your time and advice.
We realise they haven't been with us for a massive amount of time, but we're on coronavirus lockdown so have shared ALL our time with our kitties (we're both working from home ATM, and our 'office' is in our kitchen/dining/lounge area, where we've even slept on the sofa a few nights... which is also the only area the cats are safe in). They have places to hide, to climb, to sit comfortably; they play with us (one is a bit reticent but will interact with toys on strings/poles/sticks). We've tried different methods to encourage them to be more comfortable with us: lying on the floor; extending hand only limply to get them to smell us; we're using a Feliway plugin; they're not big on treats (and on a raw diet); the only method we haven't spent a long time trying is 'ignoring' due to our work stations/kitchen/lounge setup.
We need to get them to the vet to be spayed/neutered within the next 3.5 weeks and are becoming concerned we can't put them in the carrier. My husband's so bummed he's considering returning them to the breeder (assuming we could get them into the carrier!). I still think they may bond with us in time, however, they are very happy interacting with each other and aren't concerned about us.
We don't know if 5 mo is 'too old' to change in a month's time assuming they may not have had this type of human interaction previously? We're happy to put the work in and don't take cat ownership lightly but need to get them to the vet; and, we want animals that will thrive in a family environment (planning for baby #1 sometime soon). We realize every cat is different (& of course, they have each other - we wanted 2 so they'd have company once we're back at work, but it may be backfiring on the human bonding)... but how much time is reasonable to expect for them to be 'pet-able' and 'pick-up-able'?
Apologies for the long post but wanted it to contain pertinent information. Thanks in advance for your time and advice.